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The last jobs report before the election came in at 8:30 this morning. It showed a net gain of 171,000 jobs and an uptick in the unemployment rate to 7.9 percent from 7.8 last month.

These numbers are unlikely to impact the election significantly. The job growth is still not big enough to bring down the unemployment rate, at least not quickly, but it remains job growth. President Obama can claim progress. The unemployment rate did not go back above 8 percent, as some thought might happen after last month’s unexpected .3 percent drop. But it did rise a little. That’s not good news for the president.

So this report simply reflects the economy as it has been under this president since the recovery began in June 2009: sluggish at best. But that’s not news and therefore won’t have an impact.